Acuity Eye Group opened the first Acuity Optical retail location last week in Indio, Calif.
 
PASADENA, Calif.—Acuity Eye Group, a Southern California-based network of optometry and ophthalmology practices, unveiled its newest retail innovation, Acuity Optical, last week. The new Acuity Optical banner is a standalone optical store location in Indio, Calif. It is the first of three Acuity Optical offices that the company expects to open over the next few months, with all three located in Southern California. Acuity Eye Group, which was founded 16 years ago, is a physician-owned and managed organization (with no private equity ownership) that has grown to 55 locations in California and its staff includes approximately 75 optometrists and ophthalmologists.

The new Acuity Optical location features Acuity’s artificial intelligence-based telehealth vision testing experience, which the group has branded as Acuity Eye Group 360 Advanced Vision Center (Acuity 360), according to an announcement.
 The new Acuity Optical stores feature an assortment of more than 1,500 frames.

“We’re very excited to introduce a whole new concept of eyecare with Acuity Optical,” Michael Samuel, MD, co-chief executive officer of Acuity Eye Group, said in the announcement. “We are proud to have innovated a state-of-the-art eyecare experience that takes the best of modern technology and backs it with the best technicians, optometrists and customer care experts in the industry.”
 

An AI-based telehealth platform, developed in-house, sets the Acuity Optical locations apart from the group's traditional eyecare offices.
Acuity Optical represents a new era in vision screening and eye health powered by the launch of Acuity 360, which was developed by the group’s Thomas S. Chang, MD, and co-CEO Dr. Samuel. Once a patient’s prescription and eye health diagnosis via the Acuity 360 telehealth platform has been professionally verified by one of Acuity’s optometrists or ophthalmologists, customers or patients may begin the process of choosing and fitting new frames in the Acuity Optical store.
 
The Acuity Optical stores will feature a selection of more than 1,500 eyeglass frames in stock. The grand opening promotion in Indio also included the group’s Acuity Optical Dollars, which patients can use toward exams, frames, sunglasses, contact lenses and/or accessories.




Acuity Eye Group noted that its new Acuity Optical locations operate with lower overhead costs, which results in savings that “directly benefit the customers.”